Undescribable Perfection

Absolutely Fantastic

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

"The Untouchables" played into nostalgia for the early 20th century, nostalgia that figured into two other popular series that ran around the same time: "The Lawless Years" and "The Roaring 20s". That said, "The Untouchables" had more in common with another long running show that Desilu produced for ABC, "The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp." Both were based on idealized memoirs of the respective hero, both protagonists were played as stoic do-gooders without any nuance to their perfectionist view of law enforcement, and both tended toward legend rather than historical fact. As other reviewers have pointed out, much as Earp's reputation for being law abiding was somewhat inflated, Ness's activities were fairly limited in scope to Chicago rather than nationwide.

YEAH--For all those who have been asking:It's coming out on DVD, April 3, 2007. A four disk set, Vol one of the first season. Includes The Scarface Mob and goes up to episode 14, The Noise of Death. Check it out on amazon.If you guys like the show be sure to buy the DVD set which will insure that they'll come out with the rest of season 1 and all the other seasons. I'm tired of watching my old not so good copies on VHS. Columbia House never had the full show on VHS anyway and the copies made from the TV of the episodes CH didn't put out are much inferior. I can't wait to see it in crisp b/w and hear that great soundtrack.Funny thing, my 8th grade English teacher also railed on about the violence on The Untouchables, but the kids were crazy about it back then.

i became aware of the untouchables in the mid-late 1970's. when it was on, i stopped everything to watch it sometimes twice a day. didn't matter that i saw each episode a million times! the stories, the acting, the theme song was the best there is. Robert stack,Paul Picerni, Bruce Gordon, Neville Brand and especially Nick Georgiade (who is my very most favorite) all did great jobs. the show still holds up today. in fact, its better than most of whats on today! it would be great if a channel would pick it up and we could watch it again. just knowing these untouchable websites exist makes me feel really warm and good. thanks for being here for us. I've been trying to locate nick georgiade to write a fan/thank-you letter but have been unsuccessful. well, i can look at him here. i miss this show.

This "made for TV movie" was actually a 2-part episode titled "The Unhired Assassin". It was one of two "2-parters", the other being "The Big Train", a fictionalized account of the otherwise uneventful transfer of Al Capone from the Federal pen at Atlanta to the then new Alcatraz. There is actually a disclaimer that airs prior to the episode acknowledging that was indeed no misbehavior on the part of the prison guards as the episode(s) would suggest. Another popular myth: the voiceover introduction for the show(s) was done by Executive Producer Quinn Martin himself. It was actually Les Lampson, a weekend newscaster seen on KTTV in Los Angeles. Lampson retired from local TV in 1979.